16 June 2011

We were joking when we wrote that McDonalds was singlehandedly reviving the U.S. economy by hiring 62,000 employees in a single day in April. At the time, it didn't feel like the recovery hinged on the creation of low-paying, temporary McJobs. Well, on the heels of today's pessimistic report saying that just 54,000 jobs were added in May, the fast food chain's effect on the economy is looking impressive to MarketWatch:

McDonald’s ran a big hiring day on April 19 — after the Labor Department’s April survey for the payrolls report was conducted — in which 62,000 jobs were added. That’s not a net number, of course, and seasonal adjustment will reduce the Hamburglar impact on payrolls. (In simpler terms — restaurants always staff up for the summer; the Labor Department makes allowance for this effect.) Morgan Stanley estimates McDonald’s hiring will boost the overall number by 25,000 to 30,000. The Labor Department won’t detail an exact McDonald’s figure — they won’t identify any company they survey — but there will be data in the report to give a rough estimate.

As the Weekly Standard noted, those 25,000 to 30,000 McJobs that Morgan Stanley estimated were the net additions that would amount to half of the jobs added in May. That said, we have not seen an updated Morgan Stanley estimate of the McDonalds effect since the May jobs report was issued today. But, if those estimates hold, it's pretty striking.